On May 16, Joe Lally will be hitting the road, opening his huge tour in Pittsburgh. He’s scheduled to play the Black Cat on May 28. Dischord has the dates. [Label needs to learn how to spell Pittsburgh correctly].

Last evening’s concert at the Kennedy Center turned out to be two separate acts, the Dave Brubeck Quartet followed by the Ramsey Lewis Trio, rather than the monumental duet concert I was expecting, but there was nothing disappointing about it. Each delivered a phenomenal set–Brubeck a program of standards and surprisingly contemporary sounds, Lewis one of his own gospel roots and gospel-tinged originals, capped off by their respective hits, “Take Five” and “The In Crowd.”

During both, I was sitting in a side tier with a charming lady, perhaps in her late sixties, who told me stories between sets of seeing Brubeck, Stan Getz, and others on the West Coast Jazz scene of the 1950s. When I told her that I was a freelance music critic, she got a funny smile on her face.

“Do you know a fellow named Ian MacKaye?” she asked.

“Of course,” I replied.

“My daughter lived with him for about 20 years,” she said. “He’s an amazing man, and he really encouraged her in her own art.”

I was sitting with the mother of Cynthia Connolly–longtime Dischord promotions director, D.C. scenester, and author of Banned in DC: Photos and Anecdotes From the DC Punk Underground (79–85).

Between that and the two divergent pianists on the stage, I can only conclude that the Kennedy Center has a unique ability to bring people together.

The Nationals are requesting your votes for “7th Inning Stretch Song,” “Home Run Song,” and “Victory Song.” As pointed out in this Idolator post, there’s only one local choice in there, Chuck Brown’s “Bustin Loose” (my personal theme music for overeating) and the rest are pretty crappy (though I do get goosebumps whenever I hear U2’s “Beautiful Day”).

You’d think that, instead of Blur’s Fugazi rip-off “Song 2,” we could get an actual Fugazi song. Luckily, there’s a write-in function.

Overheard yesterday at Orpheus Records in Arlington: the store might be closing within the next week. They have yet to hear from the landlord about an extension and they need time to pack up thousands of LPs and CDs (not to mention furniture and stereo gear).

Got some great deals yesterday on Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Pentangle and Julian Priester LPs.

Sale aside, this place has been around 31 years–that’s longer than either 9:30 Club or Dischord or most D.C. rock institutions. I’ll be real sad to see Rick go. Drop by while you still have the chance.

Baltimore’s Human Bell—seen here performing at the Adams Morgan record store Crooked Beat—just announced a national tour with Japan’s Boredoms, a band that Washington City Paper’s Aaron Leitko described as the most bizarre “ever to have graced the roster of a major label.”

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band might dispute that claim, but I can say for certain that the Boredoms are one of the top-five best live acts I’ve ever seen (Brown’s Island, in 1994, with Sonic Youth and Superchunk).

Human Bell is Dave Heumann, frontman of Arbouretum, and Nathan Bell, best known as bassist for Lungfish. According to both bands’ label, Thrill Jockey, the Boredoms “handpicked” them for this tour.

Here are the dates. Alas, no DC:

Mon Mar 10 Lousiville, KY Ear X-Tacy (in-store)
Wed Mar 12 Dallas, TX Good Records (in-store) w/ Kid Dakota
Thur Mar 13 Marfa, TX TBA
Sat Mar 15 San Diego, CA Canes w/Boredoms
Sun Mar 16 Los Angeles, CA Family (in-store)
Sun Mar 16 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theater w/Boredoms
Mon Mar 17 San Luis Obispo, CA Boo Boo Records (in-store)
Tue Mar 18 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore Auditorium w/Boredoms
Thu Mar 20 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom w/Boredoms
Fri Mar 21 Seattle, WA Neumos w/Boredoms
Sat Mar 22 Anacortes, WA Department of Safety w/ Mt. Eerie, Photosynthesis
Mon Mar 23 Missoula, MT The Palace (Badlander downstairs, free show)
Tue Mar 25 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue w/Boredoms
Wed Mar 26 Chicago, IL Congress Theater w/Boredoms, Soft Circle
Thu Mar 27 Chicago, IL AV-Erie

The Boredoms will be at the 9:30 Club on April 3rd

Dischord announced it has a few copies of Cynthia Connolly’s seminal Banned in DC photobook available. So grab one while you still can.

In Dischord news, “Medications are soldiering on as a duo and have a show booked in March in Washington at DC9.”We know that drummer Andrew Becker has left the band. But Dischord doesn’t say what form the duo will take. Both of the remaining members, Devin Ocampo and Chad Molter, excel on multiple instruments.

Here’s what Medications’ Web site has to say: “we have yet to work the kinks out. please come out as it will be interesting if only to see us fail miserably.”

Lungfish has had a lot of bassists–three, last time I counted. While I wouldn’t count Nathan Bell as my favorite (I’m a Sean Meadows man) but he did play on both Necrophones and The Unanimous Hour, so….respect.

As it turns out, his new band, Human Bell–a duo with Arbouretum’s David Heumann–has a self-titled album that just came out on Chicago’s Thrill Jockey records. What’s more, they’ll play a free in-store at D.C.’s Crooked Beat on Thursday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. Human Bell isn’t bombastic, but it does rely on the same cyclical picking and deep vibes of both Bell and Heumann’s former groups. Here’s the MySpace if you want to check some sounds; the Thrill Jockey page for the album also includes streams of the tracks.

is here. [HT: Idolator]

A few days ago I was walking past Crooked Beat Records with some friends and one of them pointed out the promo poster for Nothing Is Underrated, the sophomore solo album by Fugazi bassist Joe Lally. He mentioned the image’s similarity to Phil Collins‘ scarlet-tinted, egg-shaped visage as it appears on the cover of No Jacket Required–Collins’ Grammy-winning third solo effort, which spawned such rockin’ radio singles as “Sussudio” and “Take Me Home.” At first I wasn’t convinced, but after referencing No Jacket Required’s cover, I’m not so sure. I don’t think Lally will be hearing from Phil’s management any time soon, but they certainly have something in common–the faint red light, the neckless head hovering alone above a bottomless darkness.